I wonder how this “surface of the scalp” interface device picks up signals from the brain when they have to pass through the meninges, skull, skin, blood and hair? What kind of signals are they and how are they transmitted?

…? That would mean that what happens inside your brain is radiated somehow through all those layers of material. Personally I find that way more interesting than making an adaptive interface device! -because all you need to do once you have any sort of input is make sure it's controlled input and then translate it to use with any device you can think of.

I'd love to see something like this used for prosthetics, but that is still a ways off. As it is, it doesn't look like they're really trying to map motions to specific brain waves the way you would need to for artificial limbs and such.

Maybe in the future if this field get more advanced and more control is needed they would put a USB drive type of connection on our head. kinda like GIS

God, I hope not. First off, for simple control functions it wouldn't ever be necessary. You don't need something so invasive just to detect brain wave activity. The only purpose it would serve would be to alter the brain itself. Now, while movies love to focus on positive elements of a computer to brain interface (downloading data for example) can you imagine all that bad that could come from that? Government mandated updates on people, hackers screwing with people's brains, software bugs literally driving people insane. It just seems like there is too much that could and likely would go wrong.

isukunGod, I hope not. First off, for simple control functions it wouldn't ever be necessary. You don't need something so invasive just to detect brain wave activity. The only purpose it would serve would be to alter the brain itself. Now, while movies love to focus on positive elements of a computer to brain interface (downloading data for example) can you imagine all that bad that could come from that? Government mandated updates on people, hackers screwing with people's brains, software bugs literally driving people insane. It just seems like there is too much that could and likely would go wrong.

On Doctor Who a similar method was used to turn everyone into Cybermen.

As for BCI, that is just awesome, the possibilities seem almost endless. To think something like that could be happening within my lifetime is amazing.

ozoneoceanI wonder how this “surface of the scalp” interface device picks up signals from the brain when they have to pass through the meninges, skull, skin, blood and hair? What kind of signals are they and how are they transmitted?

This is just be guessing, but it could detect the chemicals your brain is sending signals to, and from there hook an action to a stimulus.